Declaration
by WritingSoul
Summary: Kaede declares she wants a puppy. So, they adopt a puppy.


Shuichi's reading a case file when she comes in.

"Two bodies discovered at the scene - could be a murder suicide….no….but then…."

While he's muttering to himself, Kaede walks into the room, and seeing him hunched over his work on the table, decides she'll have to pull him away from it. His work was spread out on their coffee table, and he had a beat-up notebook in his hand, noting things as he went. He searched things over and over and over again, noting which theories were the most plausible. Kaede smiled. While most girls would be annoyed by their partners still working while at home - she didn't mind it. She liked it, even. It was endearing to watch the man she loved throw himself at another project. Quietly, she sat down by his side, watching in fascination as he worked.

But, that didn't last for very long. Her hand found his for a moment, intertwining their fingers. Warmth rushed to his face, effectively distracting him from his work. She still had this effect on him, even after being together 6 years. Dating 3, married 3.

"Shuichi…"

He looked up, flustered. "Ah, sorry… I was just really invested in this case."

Smiling fondly, Kaede tugged herself into his side, forcing him to sit back and relax against the couch. Shuichi sighed, suddenly too comfortable to do anymore tonight. The young detective sighed, and she cuddled up next to him happily.

"Don't worry, I did the same thing with playing the piano today. The only reason I stopped is because I looked at the time. Well, maybe that's not the only reason…"

Shuichi quirked an eyebrow at her. "What's the other reason?"

"I wanted to spend time with you, duh!" She said, cheeks pink.

Saihara laughed, warmth coursing through him. "Well, I guess that's okay."

"You guess?!" Kaede said in fake shock.

"I'm only kidding. There's no place I'd rather be than here with you."

"Jeez...you can sure say some embarrassing stuff." Kaede teased back, but she was even pinker than before.

She placed a kiss to his cheek. "Can't say I don't like it that way, though."

* * *

After a half hour or so of just sitting there and chatting with one another, they decided to go get dinner. After dinner, though, they decided to take a drive.

"What should we do?" Saihara said from the driver's seat. "It's only 7."

Kaede tapped her chin. "Hmm…"

Her eyes flickered over to him. They'd been trying to have a baby for a while - and she'd gotten the news that she was, indeed, pregnant today. But….how should she break it to him?

She smiled to herself briefly. Just this one step and they'd be a family.

But families usually had pets. Oh! What if they got a dog to grow up with the baby?

Hmm….a nice big dog to run around the yard they had at their house. Inwardly, Kaede smirked. He'd never see this one coming. Perhaps today was the day that she would finally outsmart her husband for once.

She must have been thinking for a while, because his eyes flicker over to her, and he says her name again. "Kaede?"

"Let's get a puppy."

Saihara blinks. "Why?"

Kaede thinks for a moment. "Because….I want one?"

"Well...a dog is a lot of responsibility and we'd have to look after it...and-"

"Shuichi, we're planning to make a baby. How hard is it to take care of a dog, too?"

Shuichi blushes and sighs at that - knowing that once her mind is made up, he can't stop her no matter how hard he tries.

"Well...I guess we're getting a puppy."

Kaede's response is a cheer.

* * *

Kaede won't stop showing him dog breeds on the way to the adoption center, and she's practically bouncing in her seat with how excited she is.

She had wanted a puppy for a while - and she thought now was the perfect time to bring it up.

"Oh! What about a pitbull? Some of them can be really good with kids and -"

"We're here." Shuichi says, turning the car off. Kaede leans over, gives him a thankful kiss, and makes her way inside.

He sighs, making his way inside after his excitable wife. It's more of a fond sigh than anything.

The receptionist smiles brilliantly at him as he comes in, and he can see Kaede's head of bright blonde hair even from outside of the kennel.

"I...I'm here to look at the dogs."

"Oh!" The receptionist says, "You wouldn't happen to be Saihara-san's husband, would you?"

Shuichi blinked. "Yes, that would be me."

The receptionist beams. "Awesome! I already talked with your wife - and she decided that she wants to look at them all before deciding anything. You may go join her, if you'd like."

Shuichi gave the receptionist a small smile and a nod, walking back to join Kaede in her search.

She was at the very back, where the bigger dogs were. They were barking up a storm as he walked in, stopping before the cage Kaede was at.

Inside was a giant dog, an intimidating pitbull. It was ginger and white, with blue eyes that peeked up at them.

It barked at Kaede, but looked...scared somehow. Kaede was cooing to it softly, willing it to come over to her.

As he watched, it reluctantly did so, sniffing her hand. It's tail began to wag, and Kaede began to pet it softly, smiling from ear to ear. Shuichi looked up at it's nameplate.

 **Name: Oka**

 **Gender: Female**

 **Age: Approx. 1 y/o**

 **Other: Past abuse; shy; takes time to get used to other animals with no animosity; good with kids; very skittish; will go into a state of panic when yelled/screamed at.**

"I like this one." Kaede said softly. Oka wagged her tail back and forth, panting in happiness as she realized that this was a good human. While he did think it was strange how quickly the animal was getting used to Kaede's touch and Kaede in general, he supposed it was just because it was Kaede. She'd had that effect on him, so who's to say that she couldn't affect animals in the same way?

"Well...have you looked at the others?"

Kaede nodded firmly. From just her posture, he could tell that she was ready to fight him on this.

"Okay, then let's get her."

The tension surrounding Kaede had quickly evaporated, replaced with sheer, innocent excitement. "You hear that, Oka? You're coming home with us!"

Oka barked happily in response, and Kaede kept petting her happily.

Shuichi shook his head. "Sometimes, I think you're more like a kid than you are my wife."

Kaede beamed up at him. "Well, you're doing a good job taking care of me! Good practice for the future, huh?"

Shuichi only went red in response, walking up to the receptionists desk and beginning to talk out the details.

Kaede grinned. Yep.

He'll definitely be a good dad.

* * *

A week later, after many mood swings from Kaede over the dog; Oka finally arrived at her new home. They would have taken her home that same night, but the adoption center required that their house be checked thoroughly.

They introduced her to the house quickly and easily, and showed her the food, and the water, and the door, and her dog beds. One in the living room, and another in their bedroom.

She came over to them, sniffing each of them. Kaede pouted the couch, glowing with happiness. Which, mind you, was a change from her crying in joy at the dog's delivery.

By now, Shuichi was starting to have a definite suspicion that she was, indeed, pregnant this time.

But, if she was, she'd want to tell Shuichi on her own time. So, he respected that and stayed silent.

Oka nudged his hand with her nose, and he lifted it up to pet her quietly, the dog panting in joy.

Right then, Shuichi decided that he'd like to stay in this moment for a while.

And that's exactly what they did.

No TV, no piano, no case files.

Just the happy couple and their dog.

* * *

 **A/N: This was...probably rushed**

 **and like**  
 **I was in class and bored and I love Saimatsu so**  
 **here we are**

 **and this was supposed to be out like 2-3 weeks ago but now it's out because of today's saiede week fic**

 **Anyway, maybe leave a review or favorite if you enjoyed? Even the smallest comment helps a lot!**

 **Thank you for reading!**


End file.
